The Choos aren’t used to being sad, even with a death in the household. A year after their son Joseph dies, the family – HDB auntie Doris, civil servant Amos and their neurotic youngest son, Brandon – pops a bottle of bubbly in good Christian cheer to celebrate his life and times. But a knock at the door promises to change things forever. A young man called Daniel arrives to announce the truth of a Joseph the family had never known.
What follows is intense family drama as the Choos and Daniel struggle to reconcile the facts of Christian life – hellfire and damnation – with the Joseph they’ve lost, want to remember and are already beginning to forget. Meanwhile, Joseph looks on and comes to terms with being dead, filling the loneliness of the grave with fond memories of his family.
Family Outing is both a playful romp and a moving biography of a family examining – with laughs along the way – some painful facts of life: the burdens of unconditional love and of saying goodbye.
Directed by Glen Goei, W!LD RICE is proud to present Joel Tan’s first full-length play.
